Venice, CA—October 17, 2011—To create a new stereo 3D spot that would live
up to Sony’s tagline for its 3D home entertainment products, “Don’t just
watch. Feel,” Grey London and Spy Films tapped the masters of complex
visuals at Digital Domain. The studio worked with director Arev Manoukian to
create “2 Worlds,” a 60 second spot that features movie-scale visual effects
and handles stereo 3D artfully to shatter the barrier between story and
audience.

Based on the concept of Manoukian’s acclaimed short film “Nuit Blanche,” “2
Worlds” takes the lightning-strike feeling of love at first sight and brings
it into the 3D realm, following a young man and woman as they’re drawn
inevitably together while the physical world shatters around them in
deference to the power of the moment. The spot, which broke on national TV
October 4, is playing in 3D theatres and Sony in-store 3D displays
nationwide.

“The visual effects on this spot are as complex and intricate as any you’ll
see in major feature films,” said Ed Ulbrich, EVP of Digital Domain and
President of Mothership. “We had to pull out all of the stops to create a
piece that highlights stereo 3D artfully, without being gimmicky. It was a
challenging project.”

“We treated this spot as an art piece and did a lot of up-front planning to
blend CG, live action and stereo,” said Digital Domain Visual Effects
Supervisor Richard Morton, who was brought into the process in its early
stages to help plan the stereo shoot and overall creation. “Arev’s story was
perfect for this medium. It has cityscapes where you can see miles down the
road. The office and library are big, expansive rooms with characters in the
foreground. There was a lot of opportunity to play with depth. The woman
walks through a glass window and it shatters towards the audience -- that’s
a great moment to showcase in 3D. It’s also slow motion, so you can really
see what’s happening.”

To create the piece, Digital Domain worked with Manoukian to pre-visualize
every shot. They held a five-day stereo shoot to capture the actors and
elements on green screen using a high-speed camera. They also captured most
of the smoke, sparks and debris effects practically in stereo – even
shooting books out of a cannon to capture reference footage. This was
tricky, Morton explained, because with cameras shooting at a high frame rate
they tended to drift out of sync and had to be resynced later.

Aside from the actors and some elements and effects, all of the backgrounds
in the spot were created digitally – even the complex library and office
interiors. Digital Domain artists then faced the challenge of integrating CG
and practical stereo elements. “We had hundreds of thousands of practical
effects that we had to review individually to get the right performances,”
said Morton. “You can’t art direct real smoke.”

The team layered CG smoke around the live action smoke billowing low along
the sidewalks, matching it precisely, and added CG sparks to a practical
bulb shattering behind the man’s head as he walks through the wall and into
the rollicking street. Matching the speed of the CG cars and the position of
the CG lighting with the speed of the live-action actors walking in slow
motion was supremely difficult. In one of the spot’s most striking shots,
the woman walking through shattering glass with her face in closeup, Digital
Domain even hand-animated thousands of pieces of glass to enable Manoukian
to art direct each one individually.

“When you add the stereo to the mix things get a whole lot more
complicated,” said Morton. The traditional ‘cheats’ to integrate practical
effects go out the window. You can’t rotate or mix and match elements.
Everything has to be horizontally aligned. We used every tool and technique
we possibly could to get the execution right.”

About Digital Domain
Digital production company Digital Domain was founded in 1993. The company
has created visuals for more than 80 movies, including Titanic, The Curious
Case of Benjamin Button and TRON: Legacy and hundreds of commercials. Its
artists have earned multiple Academy Awards®. Digital Domain recently
completed visual effects for Thor, Transformers: Dark of the Moon and Real
Steel and is in production on Jack the Giant Killer, 47 Ronin and a full
slate of commercials. Digital Domain is headquartered in Venice, California
with studios in Vancouver, San Francisco and Florida. www.digitaldomain.com